UPDATE, Noon: Brian Rolston and Dylan Reese find spots in the box tonight. Kevin Poulin will start and Rhett Rakhshani will be in the lineup although exactly where has not yet been revealed. All three goalies skated this morning, according to Newsday.

The last time these two teams met in Raleigh, the game ended with the Danish backhand that you see above, as quite a few games have. The Islanders finish up their January series against the Canes tonight, the third of three games this month. Both games thus far have been decided by one goal; the Danish backhand at the beginning of the month and the John Tavares show at the Coliseum just a few weeks ago.

The Canes made news yesterday, taking care of some housekeeping and re-singing defender Tim Gleason for four years at a total of $16 million. Gleason’s a solid defensive defenseman and is off the market (he was due to be an UFA this summer) in what is already a very small defensive free agent market. From the wire report of Gleason’s signing:

General manager Jim Rutherford says Gleason is “one of our core players” both on and off the ice.

That’s an awfully familiar line.

AND NOW, A ROSTER DECISION
In the last game against Toronto, Steve Staios and Marty Reasoner were the scratches. Reasoner has since been shifted to IR and Staios could very well sit out again. Now with Rhett Rakhshani called up, the Islanders will have some decisions to make at forward as well. There’s an odd man out tonight. Maybe Rolston or Pandolfo? We’ll have to wait and see. Also to be determined is the starter for tonight’s game. Newsday thought it could be Poulin, I disagree but we’ll know for sure soon enough.

TONIGHT’S LINES(These are the lines from the previous game against Toronto. Expect them to be different with Rakhshani and Poulin called up.)
Moulson – Tavares – Okposo
Grabner – Nielsen – Parenteau
Rakhshani – Bailey – Martin
Niederreiter – Pandolfo – Wallace